How do one man wood shops move large/heavy pieces?

[Pat Rice]

I have a FELDER FAT 300 hydraulic lift table which has been a real back saver for me. It allows me to move sheet goods by myself from the truck to my shop and helps when it is time to load a sheet on my saw. It is also very useful for assembly work as I can raise and lower it as needed, only drawback is it is not inexpensive, but I would buy it again in a heartbeat. It can handle up to 600 lbs.
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[Joe Calhoon]

I’ve been working solo for a while now since semiretirement. It can be challenging. Many adjustments in the way I work now without a crew. Anything mobile helps. Carts, lift tables, dollies and pallet jacks. The tilt up sheet goods carts are helpful for a lot of things. I have people I can call but timing is sometimes a problem.
My best tool though has been the crazy horse dolly. Keep finding new uses for that. Heavy doors can be moved from standing to flat or visa versa. Heavy timbers and a lot of other things possible to lift and move with this.

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[William Hodge]

I have honed my skills in dealing with large heavy projects by becoming adept at planning. This planning involves sending work I can't lift easily to other shops. Being injured is hard to factor as a cost of doing business.

I developed work related injuries from lifting heavy stuff in a poorly managed and equipped millwork shop. Now that I'm in charge, there's nothing heavy to lift. The lumber gets slid off the truck right into the wood rack. It slides out the other end of the wood rack on to a radial arm saw bench to lose some weight.

[Kevin Jenness]

I too have found the crazy horse to be useful and versatile, especially in maneuvering loads from one level to another. Too bad it's no longer available.

My son uses a two-wheeled timber cart in his timber framing work- something like that might find a place in a cabinet shop as well.https://timbercarts.com/

[Patrick Kane]

Same situation—one guy building big things In a small space—and I agree with the other guys’ suggestions of hydraulic carts. I have a Felder fat 300 and use the heck out of it. It’s excellent for infeed/outfeed collection, and it is very helpful for me to move large glue ups around. I will post photos when I’m at my computer, but I just finished a 12.5’ long Sapele dining table. The top is 1.5” and 42” wide, and Sapele is a very heavy hardwood. That top is immensely heavy and impossible for me to move. The cart made it safe and convenient for me to slide the top on and off of the table base several times. Depending on the frequency of large projects, an engine hoist or other solutions wouldn’t be crazy. I did a small timber frame over the summer, and I can understand why Kevin’s son spent a grand on two tires. 2/3rd the struggle on a timber frame is moving the wet/green material. I marveled at a shop with a large hydraulic hoist on rails at their TF shop. Made me very jealous.

[Kevin Jenness]

I don't think my son spent that large- I only included that link as an illustration, but even if he did it was a good investment. His new shop will have an overhead crane, but it's amazing what you can accomplish with that simple cart.

I used to have a book called Moving Heavy Things (I suspect Miles "borrowed" it) which had some clever ideas, including air bags and melting ice for lifting and lowering. https://www.amazon.com/Moving-Heavy-...80167045&psc=1

[richard poitras]

A few people mentioned the Felder fat 300 just wondering how much something like that costs? I have one of the crazy horse dolly's and they work well.

[George Yetka]

2 come alongs over assembly table, and assembly table on wheels. Lift, move table, and lower onto dollys. Or if setup permits lower right into truck.

[Steve Rozmiarek]

I design with the thought that I have to be able to move the thing. I break the furniture into modules small enough that I can move each module by myself. Generally the modules travel to their new home seperately, and get reassembled there.

While I'm thinking about modularizing, I'm also thinking about the transport problem. The new home might be up stairs, or up an elevator, or have other issues. Solving those issues is easier in the design phase than when you're trying to deliver a completed piece.

This. If you are thinking about moving it before you ever build, it really does make your life easier. I usually have a mini skidsteer with forks, a forklift or at least a pallet jack around, so some of my bigger stuff gets built to be handled with forks. Smaller stuff can just set on a pallet. Helps the loading for delivery to the customer, and makes life easier in the shop when a warehouse shuffle is happening.

[Patrick Kane]

A few people mentioned the Felder fat 300 just wondering how much something like that costs? I have one of the crazy horse dolly's and they work well.

You can sign up on their site and get the latest pricing, but i think a FAT 300 is $1600-1800 without tax. I was lucky enough to find one unused on the second hand market for half off. Barth makes a much beefier version, and then there are other companies like Presto and Vestil

Kevin, even if he did spend a grand, it wasnt money poorly spent. If he does framing for a living, and cant move the timbers by himself without the cart, then he wouldnt be making much of a living at it without the $1,000 bike wheels. If you frame professionally, i imagine an overhead crane is almost a must have. In this youtube video i referenced, guys were craning over pieces to pre-assemble full bents and then craning the pegged bents over to the other side of the shop for storage. After doing it all on a smaller scale by hand and by myself, the idea of a crane/gantry system melted my mind.

[Erik Loza]

So, I’m seeing more and more of the FAT300 (have yet to personally see the larger FAT500) in my customers’ shops and have had some time to play with them now. Observations so far...

-To folks thinking they can DIY something like this, you probably can’t. Or at least nowhere near as nice. The fit and finish on these is what you would expect from Felder. Nothing wrong with the budget/DIY options but there is a reason why people are willing to pay for these.
-The birch ply top we offer is VERY solid (30mm thick) but most folks I deal with are DIY’ing their own.
-One of my customers skinned the top of his with this product called New Pig: https://www.newpig.com/grippy-absorbent-mat/c/5005 I had never heard of this stuff but it makes a great outfeed table surface (tool chest liner, as well).
-No oil leaks: Pistons are pneumatic, not hydraulic.
-We make them 100% in-house. The steel is actually offcuts from making CNC routers.

These aren’t cheap and I realize not everyone will be able afford/justify one but having used them for a while, now, my opinion is that the price is fair for what you get. I have not seen/used any of the Barth tables, however. One of my goals for 2021 is to get Felder to start warehousing these FAT tables here in TX, so we can be more competitive on freight cost to those folks in the middle of the US.

Erik

[Patrick Kane]

So, I’m seeing more and more of the FAT300 (have yet to personally see the larger FAT500) in my customers’ shops and have had some time to play with them now. Observations so far...

-To folks thinking they can DIY something like this, you probably can’t. Or at least nowhere near as nice. The fit and finish on these is what you would expect from Felder. Nothing wrong with the budget/DIY options but there is a reason why people are willing to pay for these.
-The birch ply top we offer is VERY solid (30mm thick) but most folks I deal with are DIY’ing their own.
-One of my customers skinned the top of his with this product called New Pig: https://www.newpig.com/grippy-absorbent-mat/c/5005 I had never heard of this stuff but it makes a great outfeed table surface (tool chest liner, as well).
-No oil leaks: Pistons are pneumatic, not hydraulic.
-We make them 100% in-house. The steel is actually offcuts from making CNC routers.

These aren’t cheap and I realize not everyone will be able afford/justify one but having used them for a while, now, my opinion is that the price is fair for what you get. I have not seen/used any of the Barth tables, however. One of my goals for 2021 is to get Felder to start warehousing these FAT tables here in TX, so we can be more competitive on freight cost to those folks in the middle of the US.

Erik

Agreed, i have one and its no way comparable to HF or anything similar ive seen. However, someone on FOG mentioned the freight was like $500 and i nearly fell over when i read that email. I think i paid $800 for mine and then another $150 for a ushipper to drive it from South Carolina to Pittsburgh.

[Erik Loza]

However, someone on FOG mentioned the freight was like $500 and i nearly fell over when i read that email. I think i paid $800 for mine and then another $150 for a ushipper to drive it from South Carolina to Pittsburgh.

Yes, that is the challenge. I think paying a third the price of the item for freight is silly. We have to find a better solution. I think we will be able to warehouse them here in TX at some point, which hopefully will get freight down to a manageable level, but that's going to take time due to the pandemic. Also, I believe that $500 figure is for residential delivery w/ a liftgate truck, which adds like $150 to anything. A crated FAT300 will fit in the back of a pickup (I delivered one to a local customer; it fit in the back of my 4Runnr perfectly) so another solution is that we only deliver to local terminals for customer pickup. In that case, I think $200-$300 for delivery, which seems reasonable.

Erik

[Todd Trebuna]

"Not a professional woodworker", but i have made large heavy furniture with Oak, walnut and Ash. None of these were for sale and all were for family. I Generally use furniture dollies and hand trucks to make things happen. I think the largest piece I've made weighed over 200 lbs.

[Keith Outten]

I have four of the Harbor Freight hydraulic tables, three are 300 pound capacity and one 700 pound. They are small but very handy. Last month I upped my game and purchased a 1200 pound air operated motorcycle lift. The new lift is 2 foot wide and 7 foot long. There are side extensions that extend the size to 4 by 7 foot. The air operation is just awesome. The frame has a locking feature that provides several heights so you can vent the air pressure. I believe the height adjustment is from 3" to 30" tall. The lift was about $1200.00 with free shipping and worth every penny.

I have an electric winch in the overhead, and a pallet jack. I normally work by myself and I am old enough to know better then to lift more then a gallon of wood glue by myself